Month: October 2017

Treason has consequences and Riley knows them all too well. He has betrayed Lucifer and now he is on the run.

As an Angel of Deception and the son of The Sex Goddess, Riley has always been reckless; and it’s finally catching up with him. With his heart encaged by the Demon Lord himself, he is slowly losing his soul, but when he meets Oriana something in him stirs. Used to women falling all over him, Riley becomes captivated when she is able to resist his charm.

The unlikely pair is thrust together while murder, intrigue, and mayhem runs rampant during a newly raging Vampire war. Can these two souls save each other in a world that’s crumbling around them?

I created Riley in the second book of my Kings series as a dark angel and the brother of my main female character. He was supposed to be a side character, a character that played his role and then jump back into non-existence. But Riley I created soon became much more. He was rebellious enough to take off on his own, defy my plans for him to be nothing more than a side character. Soon, he was backstabbing me as his creator, talking to my readers, making his secretive connections to a large fanbase. Every time he talked, he was mysterious, manipulative. I knew he was the King of Deceptions and soon began to believe he was playing with all of us. Readers kept asking: Is he good? Is he bad? Who is he?

The sexy, humorous and cocky angel soon had my readers panting after him. By the time I was done with my second book, I faced desertion by them unless I wrote his story, the angel who had captivated their hearts. Oh, well…So, I was stuck with Riley. He almost screamed in my head as I was writing his book. I stopped apologizing to my readers for his vulgarity, rudeness and shallowness. He couldn’t help it, he was the son of the Sex Goddess. And, I was merely his voice. Besides, my readers wanted to know more about him, right? This was it. They were free to hate him.

It didn’t really work that way. Riley effused a natural charm. Who am I kidding? There was nothing natural about it. Women were after him. And he just didn’t give a damn. I almost didn’t like him. Almost. But as I scratched the surface with Riley, I found out so much more about this dark Angel.

“I knew I was dancing with death. But I was gonna play the game until it claimed me. And eventually it would. There was no escape.”

I began to wonder: Who was he running from? And why was he behaving this way? I had to find out.

I needed help to bring out the fun, vulnerable side which was bottled deep down Riley. For that, I needed to save him from himself and from the one who was after him. I found the help I needed in Oriana. The woman who lived among the humans but was so much more. The woman who was immune to his sex appeal. The woman who held her own secrets. I knew she would be my savior. And, she would be his.

“Hi there, luv,” I said, turning on the charm. From up close, she was an even better catch. Though she was shorter and not as curvy as I desired, there was something about her which made me pause. “My name is Riley, baby.”

“Get lost, Riley,” the woman said.

I had misheard her. There was no other explanation.

“C’mon,” I said, making sure I touched her. It was done.

I had her. I was sure. “I’m rather impatient, honey. What’s your name?” I asked, knowing full well I would not remember it a few seconds after she told me. It was still polite to ask.

“My name is Oriana,” she said politely, but I noticed the sarcasm. “Now get lost,” she repeated. I watched in amazement as she raised her middle finger.

She was making a ‘fuck off’ sign.

I was confused. I was shocked. There were only a few things that generated those feelings in me. I was having a truly weird moment right now. I liked it.

I can tell you that this whole book blog is all part of his plan. It is nothing but his masterful Deception. Read him at your expense, available since 15th of September, beware that he is waiting to charm you. And, no one, but Oriana, is immune.

We’ve teamed up with some amazing authors, blogs, and book world providers to share some amazing giveaways with you! All of us have joined together to also create a fabulous GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY!
Here’s what you need to do to enter:
Visit each Hop Stop and follow the instructions for entering their giveaway. You MUST visit each page and either enter their giveaway or comment hello on their post. When you’ve visited every stop, please go to the event page and comment on this post that you’re done. This is the ONLY way you will be considered entered for the grand prize. The grand prize winner will be verified!!

(we need an EASY way to create a master list of complete hoppers and this handles that)

-Hop Stops are open from 8am on 10/26 through 8pm on 11/1

-There are over EIGHTY stops on this hop. We recommend breaking up your hops into separate time chunks (we suggest 20 in a given hour), and then come back in another hour and do another 20, so Facebook doesn’t throw you in jail.
That’s it!! Not so hard, right??

The Grand Prize Giveaway winner will be announced on the event page on November 3rd.

Facebook is not responsible for any prizes or the draw.

Each page is responsible for their own page giveaway and the drawing of their winner.Amanda Walker PA & Design Services is only responsible for the administration of the Hop and for the drawing of the major prize draw.

In celebration of author, Toi Thomas’ birthday, on October 21st, all her ebooks are on sale $0 – $1.99 from October 20th – October 24th. All her books are also available in print and come with reasonable shipping through Createspace.com, if you don’t have Amazon Prime. Check out her books below and then stick around for Toi’s Top 5 Angel Books and giveaway.

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Legend of the Boy, In the Window, and Other short stories – sale$0.99 | Createspace $9.99

Collection of multi-genre stories including science fiction, romance, and paranormal. The first title story is that of a boy who must destroy the world so he can save humanity.

These two simple, yet vibrant, stories teach young children, and those with special needs, the importance and inevitability of change in living things and the world. Sold separately.

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Hi there; I’m Toi. If you aren’t familiar with me yet, don’t worry; this is your chance to learn that I love Batman, Betty Boop, Star Wars, and Angels. I like all kinds of angels. Good ones, bad ones, and creatures with wings that look like angels but may not actually be. I don’t think it’s just a matter of wings either. There are other winged creatures I like, such as dragons, but there are also some I don’t like such as flying monkeys or seagulls. LOL! But seriously, I’ve grown a fondness for angel lore and stories about and or containing angel-like creatures. Heck, I even write about them in my Eternal Curse Series. While my books are influenced by Bible tales, a great many angel stories are not. Either way, if it’s about angels, I’m probably going to like it. So, here’s a list of the Top 5 angel books (or books with an angel or angel-like character) I’ve read in at least the last ten years, and in no particular order.

If you like angels or supernatural and urban fantasy stories, you should enter my paperback giveaway (open to US only) of the books mentioned above. I’ve enjoyed them and hope you will too. If you are looking for discounted print books with free international shipping, give Book Depository a try. Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me… And remember, book reviews are every author’s life force. 🙂

I call the east coast of the United States home. I live in Virginia, closer to Washington, DC, though I crave a home in the mountains.

Question 2) What do you think makes a good story?

To me, a good story is well-told with vibrant images that play like a movie in my head as I read. To me, it’s when I’m reading and the whole world disappears… that is good story.

Question 3) What inspired you to write your first book?

I have been writing as a child. My dream to be famous started with writing, then singing, then acting, then singing, and I have found it most peaceful to write. The inspiration behind my first published book was a publisher’s admission that she loved it after I wrote a blurb to it. It began as a serial on my blog.

Question 4) What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

Honestly writing takes a back seat right now as we work on building our publishing house up. I’ve been doing a lot of focus with graphics, but writing is still instrumental to all I do. It must be creative, and that is a successful day.

Question 5) What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Hmmm… some would say love stories with a twist, but my writing quirk is probably more along the lines of all the headless or beheaded characters in my stories.

Question 6) Give us the title and genre of your latest book.

The 13: Tales of Illusory is a collection of short horror stories.

Question 7) What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?

I’m always surprised by people’s interest. I’m in my own little world, just being me, so when people step up, it’s always the biggest surprise. It’s also a surprise how well received my book cover is.

Question 8) Do you have an excerpt from your current work you’d like to share?

Sure…this is from Wade, Haunted:

The front door of the white house opened with a squeak that made Wade’s heart skip a beat. His eyes closed, and the dusty silence of the long empty house accosted him. Nothing disturbed the air, not even the buzz of appliances. Sensing the vacancy, he opened his eyes. A photo album s

at on the rickety coffee table just beyond the front door. His stomach clenched. Hesitant eyes searched the room as he moved towards the table, noting the crumbling paint on the walls and broken bricks of the fireplace, but he switched direction at the last minute. Despite the dead silence, he needed to know there was no one there. His feet carried him through a small opening and into the kitchen.

Cobwebs crowded dark corners, and a spider web covered the base of the sink. The stale odor of disuse exuded from the refrigerator as he opened it. Nothing there but more cobwebs. He coughed and closed it. A glance out the window showed him a yard filled with unruly weeds and tall, browning grass. He followed a short hall to a closed door. Inside the closet a few musty jackets hung on metal hangers and dust coated the floor.

A short staircase with an ornate brass bannister loomed opposite the closet. He ascended, the ominous creaking and sighing of the steps disturbing the silence. Wade’s heart plunged to his belly. He raced to the top looking over his shoulder every other step. Once he reached the top, an open foyer looked down into the front room. With bated breath he investigated the rooms behind him and found most of them empty. He flipped the light switch in the bathroom out of habit, and a pasty white face stared at him from the mirror. Startled, he jumped and his heart quickened, until he realized it was his reflection.

Wade’s fingers trembled as he turned the knob of the last room, and the door opened without noise. Rose pink covered the walls, and gold-framed landscapes of mountains and sunsets hung on either side of an elaborate oak dresser. A large gold headboard disappeared behind a yellowed rosebud coverlet. A layer of age and abandonment coated everything. He shut the door, a sense of intrusion replacing his dread, and moved to the railing. The album winked up at him from the coffee table, drawing his attention. His curiosity aroused, he worked his way to the front room.

A cloud of dust exhaled from the couch as he sat. His hands quivered as he opened the cover; he took his time pouring over each page. Pictures of a handsome family rose from the pages. A sincere-faced father draped an arm across each son’s shoulders. A beautiful woman stood beside him, cradling an infant in her arms. As their story unfolded, the family appeared less and less, until only pictures of the woman remained. Loneliness seeped from her eyes, and he wondered what had happened to them.

With his eyes in a half-squint, he concentrated on the surrounding room, searching for a clue. A dark stain on the wall near the baseboard caught his attention. Hot breath blew against his neck. He turned and startled. The woman from the pictures sat next to him. Her ruby lips pouted coyly. Her blonde hair twisted seductively down her body, drawing attention to her full breasts. They pressed against her tight top as she leaned forward, teasing Wade with her closeness.

“What brings you here, lover?”

Question 9) What can we expect from you in the future?

I have a holiday children’s story and two fantasies in development, along with another short story collection and a few stories I’d like to flesh out and use in a collaboration with my best friend and writing partner, A.L. Mabry.

Question 10) What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?

Getting copies of my books and smelling that new book smell when I open the box.

Question 11) How can we contact you or find out more about your books?

Most of my other haunts are with the handle “theauthorSAM” and I’m on Instagram as my graphic’s page, OWS Creative Studios. You can also contact me through OWS Ink and find out about any new books by subscribing to the newsletter

Nestled within the folds of the Canadian Rockies, Graves Grove probably isn’t the picturesque place you’d like to stay for long. Peculiar things happen here. The citizens seem normal superficially–theyfunction well enough. But each one is deeply disturbed, wrapped in secrets and neuroses which drive them to strange behaviors.

And then there are all the missing children. And why is everyone afraid of that sycamore tree?

The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove is an anthology of stories taking place throughout the history of this mysterious town, from its founding to its future. Read them…if you dare.

The western hemisphere. Specifically, the western half of the United States. I’ve lived in Washington state, Oregon, California, Oklahoma, and Kansas. I currently reside in a tiny town, without so much as a stoplight, out where central Kansas starts to bleed into western Kansas.

Question 2) What do you think makes a good story?

Great characters that you care about. A good setting is wonderful as well, but building a beautiful world is a waste if it’s populated by characters that readers don’t care about.

Question 3) What inspired you to write your first book?

My husband. He’s the one who kept encouraging me to write, the one who kept telling me I could do it. Between his cheerleading and my love of dragons, my epic fantasy series was born.

Question 4) What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

I work best in barely controlled chaos, so there is no particular schedule. I may not write anything for a couple of weeks, and then spend the next week after churning out almost ten thousand words a day.

Question 5) What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I keep most of the story, the various backstories, and the various substories, in my head. I write down notes about characters like name, how they look, and where they are from. The rest of it is all filed away in a very messy records room in my head.

Question 6) Give us the title and genre of your latest book.

My latest book is Betrayed. It’s a fantasy/paranormal romance and the second in my Raven Daughter series in which a young woman finds out there is more to her than she realized. She was supposed to be a reaper, but her heritage makes her so much more than that and a lot of people aren’t pleased about it.

Question 7) What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?

How to make Napalm B. I had no idea that was even a thing until I accidentally stumbled across a youtube video while researching something else. My curious, writerly mind of course had to watch the video, because as a writer, once you realize there is a new thing you don’t know, you have to learn it or it will drive you crazy. Or at least it would me.

Question 8) Do you have an excerpt from your current work you’d like to share?

Absolutely. This is a scene from Betrayed:

The man stepped from the shadows and walked toward us. Or maybe he glided, it was so graceful. Black hair hung to his waist in a straight, shiny fall. Though Caius had always seemed perfection of the human form to me, this man could almost make Caius seem average. Almost.

His height held my attention when he came to stop a couple of arms lengths away. He had to be head and shoulders taller than Caius, which made me feel absolutely shrimpy. Caius inclined his head slightly. “Hades.”

I nearly choked and my heart rate jumped into a gallop. Hades? As in the Greek god, Hades? I couldn’t help the tremble that started in my knees and worked its way up my body. Sentinels and demons wanting me dead weren’t enough? Now I had a god after me too? If he wanted me dead, I was screwed. Not even Caius could defeat a god. Without realizing it, I had reached out and snagged a handful of the back of Caius’s shirt. I didn’t know why, only that I needed some connection to keep the sudden terror at bay.

In my fear, I had missed part of the conversation.

“…relax, Caius. I’m not here to kill you.”

“Maybe not, but there are very few I trust these days.” Caius shifted, putting me behind his back a little more.

“Now, Caius, is that any way to behave with an old friend?” Hades said smoothly and moved to where he could see me better. My trembling increased under the weight of his black eyes. “I merely wanted to get a look at the one who has everything in chaos. Shame on you for hiding her heritage.”

I glanced up at Caius’s face. I could only see the side, but if the tension in his jaw was any indication, he wasn’t pleased to see Hades. I couldn’t blame him. I did envy his calm as he faced someone who could obliterate him. Or maybe he wasn’t completely calm, but he seemed more pissed than scared. I would take that too. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any anger in myself to latch on to. Only quivering fear. Then again, I was facing a kind of devil.

Hades expression became one of affront. “I am not a devil.”

I stared at him in shock. Could he read my mind?

“Yes, I can.” He glanced at Caius. “Does she really believe all of that forked tail and pitchfork stuff?”

“She was raised in the mortal world, with all of their stories.” Caius’s voice was still guarded as he moved his arm back to block me a little more. I place my other hand on the rock hard muscle of his forearm.

“Oh yes,” irritation flashed across Hades’s face, “those.”

He took in Caius’s stance and me tucked behind him and raised a perfect eyebrow. “Protective aren’t we?”

“We share a partial bond, what happens to her happens to me.”

“Except death.” Hades held up a finger. “That you would survive.”

A growl rumbled low in Caius’s chest and I could feel the vibration in his arm.

“Just a correction of your statement, nothing more.” Hades smirked and turned his attention back to me. “Such a little thing to cause so much trouble.”

Heat flared on Caius’s skin when Hades walked around him, reached toward me and hooked one of his long, perfectly manicured, nails under my chin, forcing me to look into his black eyes. I fell into them, drowning in their dark depths as they filled the world around me. My hand tightened on Caius’s arm until my nails dug into his skin.

“Enough.” Caius’s command was sharp.

Hades chuckled and suddenly the world was normal again. He gazed down at me with interest. “She’s fantastic. I can’t wait to see her grow into her powers.” He placed his finger against his lips as he regarded me. “I won’t even have to wait that long. Your blood is maturing her faster.”

Okay, terrified I may have been, but the way he continued to talk about me like I was a show dog started to irritate me and I welcomed the spark of anger that welled inside. It helped to balance the fear.

Question 9) What can we expect from you in the future?

I have several books either in the works or planned. I will be writing the third and final book of the Raven Daughter series next. After that I have a 4th book in my epic dragon fantasy to write, one more book and one novella to write for my Bound series, and a couple of stand alone books that are also waiting in the wings to be written.

Question 10) What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?

Buying Word 2010, lol. That is my go to for writing. I’ve tried Scrivner and a few others, but Word just works best for me. I think it’s because it isn’t highly organized.

Question 11) How can we contact you or find out more about your books?

You can find out more about my books, read my blog, sign up for my newsletter, and learn more about my books all at my website: www.adtrosper.com .

Fifteen-year-old Therese watches her parents die. While in a coma, she meets the twin sons of Hades—Hypnos (the god of sleep) and Thanatos (the god of death). She thinks she’s manipulating a dream, not kissing the god of death and totally rocking his world.

Than makes a deal with Hades and goes as a mortal to the Upperworld to try and win Therese’s heart, but not all the gods are happy. Some give her gifts. Others try to kill her.

The deal requires Therese to avenge the death of her parents. With the help of Than’s fierce and exotic sisters, the Furies, she finds herself in an arena face to face with the murderer, and only one will survive.

Eva Pohler recently retired from a twenty-year position teaching writing and literature at a university in San Antonio, where she lives with her husband and three kids. Now a full-time writer, she’s the author of The Mystery Book Collection and three series for young adults: The Gatekeeper’s Saga, The Purgatorium Series, and The Vampires of Athens. Her books have been described as “thrilling” and “addictive.” A Kirkus reviewer said of The Gatekeeper’s Sons that it was “sure to thrill Hunger Games fans.”

A reader herself, Eva writes in multiple genres, but all of her stories blur the line between reality and fantasy, truth and delusion, and draw from Eva’s personal philosophy that a reader must be lured and abducted into complete captivity in order to enjoy the reading experience.